For the majority of Swansea City supporters Alan Sheehan, and we repeat that has to include Darren O’Dea are beyond borrowed time at Swansea City. Yesterday’s 4-1 defeat at home to Ipswich and this time the performance was pretty much the last straw for us as well.

There is now two weeks off where apparently those players not on international duty, twelve are missing the rest will be given time off and a chance for a short holiday. Having served in the military I don’t recall a time when we were rewarded with such things for failure. I’m sure as well there’s 99% agreement on this. Having said all that it seems that Alan Sheehan is comfortable, he doesn’t look under pressure which indicates to us he has received certain assurances as it stands. Although those assurances came before the 4-1 hammering yesterday,

Take a look at his post match interview.

And now if your sadistic enough the highlights from yesterday. Health warning, you won’t get those twelve minutes back and there’s far better things you can do in twelve minutes. A shower on average takes that plus a gentle mile jog, maybe make some custard or even get a jelly ready to set.

In the midst of a hammering all football fans generally have a poor Sunday. The thought of going back to work for some whilst the causation of their miserable weekend are putting their feet up potentially on a sun bed for a few days is galling. We expect as a website that has writers and a key researcher who invest much of their time into keeping a newsworthy and supportive service for Swans fans that some details from the club will be evident very soon. What’s clear now is the club will be discussing the current situation at length with a timeframe for any decision firmly agreed upon.

Well, it’s an expectation that surely is underway ?

This now shouldn’t be a suck it and see situation that has little agreement in what the immediate future brings. As it stands on this somber day of memoriam it’s no good throwing the cubs and scouts over the top into battle to later realise that probably wasn’t a good idea. What Sheehan has lost since guiding the Swans to safety last season only he knows. Thing is nobody asks anyone hard questions fearing they will be banned from press conferences. The general fear they will longer be a part of the group of journalists who dare not go near the hard questions or push the club on their decision making.

God forbid.

With a very weak insight from the press Swansea City fans accept the normal weekly reports coasting over the cracks at the club. Nobody is willing to challenge this. They only become vociferous when they hear or read strong journalism which presses their minds to think deeper, they do get very agitated. It’s quite fun to watch, but also at times it is demoralising and upsetting. You cannot get to the root of a problem without digging down to the cause of it. This is why Swans fans get angry when the ‘norm’ is breached and reports are published that challenge. The potential to lash out is there, again with certain fans having little realisation of how they are being viewed or the consequences. That’s all a part of maturing or actually learning from your misinformed decisions. And that brings us around to Alan Sheehan again, it seems he isn’t implementing that process into his daily training methodology. Russell Martin was as a trainer and coach extremely keen on emotional learning and processing feelings from within as opposed to acknowledging you made a mistake without reflecting on why.

That type of effective and affective principle will be rebelled against, hence the pathetic behaviour of Morgan Whittaker and Michael Obafemi. You can add Joel Piroe to that for a few weeks before his father got ahold of him and shook him about for a bit. We can only state these things as we are easily challenged. So maybe ask his father ?

We did.

If it’s a lack of ability to learn from costly errors in the case of Sheehan then he most certainly won’t have that insight to pass on that development detail to his squad. Worth thinking about ? Darren O’Dea came to Swansea with an alleged pedigree in ensuring players do physically learn from their experiences in training. A process of understanding that when he came to Swansea his colleagues and peers were stating he was one of the best at implementing. All I’ve seen from this is highly animated discussions between him and Sheehan on the touchline, almost physical to the eye on occasion and no improvement. In fact now player development seems to be getting worse.

Visibly so.

Sheehan and O’Dea were so outthought and outwitted yesterday they had no answer to another highly regarded team in Ipswich Town (and Leicester City) This gives any faith in their ability to challenge or learn under question. Especially now as three victories have been earned against the bottom three clubs in the league and Blackburn Rovers who sit in nineteenth. When the Swans come up against anything other than a struggling team they haven't the basics in their armoury to kill a game off. That’s the key detail.

However, all of us have to realise that IF Sheehan is moved on and O’Dea isn’t then he will become caretaker head coach. That’s inevitable. Could he be the answer ? Is the partnership somewhat in conflict with itself which leaves O’Dea frustrated and unable to enforce his own ideology ? We will only find out if Sheehan leaves and O’Dea doesn’t. The sensible conclusion financially would be to relieve Sheehan of his duties and allow O’Dea a free rein, if that is what board eventually do. If both go then we are looking at Richard Stearman from the coaching staff as the best option. That’s the conundrum that isn’t being examined or indeed asked by those with full access to the club.

We could add that if there is a conflict between head coach and assistant we could see O’Dea removed ?

The fans are very much behind immediate change after yesterday, and yes we believe it has now reached a point where Sheehan has to be engaged by the club and a clear agreement on his future is mapped out. Leaping from one game with hope to another one which displays Sheehan’s clear failings currently cannot go on. The club also need to engage, they rarely do on tricky matters (the ticket fiasco earlier this season was hardly mentioned let alone apologised for) They left it to blow over and hoped everyone forgot about the absolute incompetence of that situation. However, this is the type of situation with the club so desperately poor on the pitch they need to examine and agree a clear pathway upon which to engage with the fans.

It needs to be purposeful and clear. This isn’t about meeting with fans and the like a gesture from the majority shareholding would suffice. It could keep people onside and appreciative of what the club are doing to resolve this situation. If they communicate how they view this current state of play you will find fans more supportive - and most importantly willing to turn up and pay their way in to games.

Make sense ?

It’s not a criticism but when you look at the impact of a team falling down the league other factors are evident. Sponsorship and indeed links via Snoop Dogg become weaker, the new discussions into further investment into the club will become strained. Thats when businessmen like majority shareholders Brett Cravatt and Jason Cohen become nervous and have to bridge that faith by working harder to solidify the situation. They are not in any way responsible for this current situation, they have supported Swansea City with brave investment and in turn have also brought about stability at Swansea. We are now in a slightly confused state off the field. Something we potentially haven’t seen for at least eleven years. There’s no sack the board shouts and anyone who does is as far away from the plot as anyone can be.

This is the first real time in a year or so that we have seen this new board in a quandary. They may state there is no issue, we know they support Sheehan. At least that is until yesterday. They will no doubt be discussions potentially as we speak, they need to formalise carefully their processes overall for the coming weeks. If they are sticking with the current climate they have to at least indicate this. That’s not hard to do. At least then with good intention the fans will know where the club stand at this moment in time. It shouldn’t be down to this website to do their bidding regards Alan Sheehan.

Thats their role and with clear transparency.

It’s a matter for those people who have invested wisely and openly to ensure this doesn’t turn into a fans v club fight, it’s the best way forwards and we have every faith in them. Without doubt this club is now in limbo, it is struggling to retain the support they have on the pitch. There is also a financial concern as much as the heavy costs of sacking staff.

And for the first time since they came to Swansea as a board they have to deal with it.

Photograph : Open Source

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